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'Oct. 2 1923. 1,469,234

H. R. MEYER STARTING MECHNISM FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Au 6, 1920WITNESSES: INVENTOR .62, M5 7 fiafryfZA/leyer ,W/Z- W W ATTORNEY UNITEDSTATES- Patented Oct. 2, 1923.

PATENT OFF'I C mumYn. MEYEIMOF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR'rorwns'rmeriousn ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING comrnnxn CORPORATION orPENNSYLVANIA:

STARTING mom a non AUTOMOBILES. 1]

f Applicationifileil nngust' 6, 1920. s ri i 'iro 461,738

'To all who'm itmlz y concern:

Be it known that 1.,HARRY R; Mnxnn, a citizenof'the United States, and aresident of Wilkinsbur' in, the county'of Allegheny and State of a newand useful Improvement in Starting Mechanisms for Automobiles,.offwhich'the following is aspecification.

1 My invention relates to starting meoha 10 nisms forinternal-combustion engines and,

particularly, to starting mechanisms hav-" ing motor, pinions; movableaxially into mesh with engine gear wheels. One object of my invention isto provide a starting mechanism' of the above indicated character: thatshall effect movement of the motor :pinion into mesh with the enginegear wheel by means of. acam member which is controlled by aninertia'memher and will effectdemeshing of thein'otor pinion from theengine gear wheel in a simple and efficient-manner upon starting of theengine. l

In starting the internalcombustion,engine ofan automobile by means of anelectrio motor, considerable trouble is often experiencedfinsatisfactorily meshing the fmotor pinion with the: engine gear wheelwithout shock or j a1 and withont'injury to thei'teeth of thepi iQand'the gear wheel. 'In the. preferred embodiment of 'myfinvention, ,themotor pinion is'l moved along the armature, shafthand. is biased, by aspring-member, out of mesh with 'the engine gear 'whee l. Two foam,members and :two weighted levers,, which are pivotally mounted on themotorshaft, serve to move the mo'tor pinion into mesh withvthe enginegear wheel upon starting of the motor. The cam members are biased towardtheir initial positions by means of spring members, and a latohisprovided 'on one of the cam members forf'holding the pinion in mesh withthe engine gear wheel until the engine is started.

rovided between the pinion and the arma ture shaft. Such connection isprovided in order to effect the releaseofsuchlatch upon s o "the nteed-c leb s iq en n n p men ewme 1 .1 @iiQ Qfii-QME P I d lev tien a'eeiivie is ,s riieted injaecordance with my invention,

ennsylvania, have invented A loose connection is "merit w'iththe lugs 19andIS. Thespring and Fig; 3,isa detail view of'the connection betweenthe motor pinion and the' ar mature'shaftfl I I f 1 I Referringtotheidrawing, anengine gear wheel '1 comprises helical teeth 2 cut'upona flywheel 3 of an engine (not shown). A

startingmotor 4, 'ofj'anysuit able type,;is

provided for operating pinion 5 to start the u internal-combustion"engine. The engine force tending to pull the pinion into mesh motor andfor exerting aforce tending to The pinion' 5 is'slidably, mounted upon a"purpose to'gbe hereinafter set forth.

Adjacentto the pinion 5, two cam memshaft 6 and is conn'eotedjto suchshaft by means of a key member 7; The k ey memb er T'is fitted to a slotformed in the shaft '6 and'projects into a 'slot 8 formed in the pinion5. The widthoftheslot, Sfis somewhat greater than that of thejkey member7 in order to permit a "limited movement of rotation of the pinion:relative to the shaft. A spring membef' 10 is mounted upon thejsh'aft' 6between a collar 1 1 and fthepinion 5ffor biasing the pinionjfi" out ofmeshwith the engine gear'wheelil; A

'gear wheel and themotorpini-on are providedwith helical gear teeth forexerting a' with the gear wheel up'on" starting .of the v ,be'rs 13 and1e arepivotally mounted, in 7 any suitable manner, uponthe armature I Inthe structure shown [in the drawing, the two cam m'embers'are rotat ablymounted' on a pin 15 which extends through an enlarged portion 17 of thearma- 'ture shaft 6.". The cam member l l'is'pro ,vided with a 'c'amsurface 16 for engaging 1 the face of the pinion 5, underoertai'nconditions, to force such pinion into mesh with theengine gear wheel.The cam member 13 p is provided with a similar cam surface for operatingthe pinion 5' into mesh with the engine gear wheel.

Twolugs'18 and 19 are mounted,inany suitable manner upon the portion 17oftho V shaft for limiting the movement of the e mbe s 1 mil v-Twe' ifie m m- 'bVi ded for bia l' members 20 and 21 are connected between '25which engages the notch 12 formed in the face of the. pinion 5 forholding the pinion 5 in mesh with the engine gear wheel until startingof the engine.

Two lever arms 26 and 27 are rigidly con- A nected to the respectivecam'members 14 and 13 or they may be formed integral with them, as maybe desired. The lever arm 26 is provided with a weight. 28 and the lever27 is provided with a similar weight 29. Initially, the spring 'inembers20 and 21 maintain the cam members and the lever arms in the positionsshown in the drawing. 7 v I Assuming the elements of the startingmechanism to be in .the positions shown in the drawing, in order tostart the internal-combustion engine (not shown), the starting motor 4is energized. Upon operation of the motor 4, the pinion5 and the cammembers and levers attached to the armature shaft 6 are rotated. Theinertia of the weighted portions 28 and 29 of the lever arms 26 and 27tends to prevent movement of such lever arms. Consequently, the leverarms assume positions indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of. thedrawing. Such movement of the lever arms operates the cam members 13 and14'to force the pinion 5 into mesh with theengine gear wheeel 1. Whenthe pinion 5 is in mesh withjthe engine gearwheel, the tooth 25 entersthe notch 12 in the face of the pinion 5 and prevents the spring member10 froni linoving the pinion 5 away from the engine gear wheel l. fAssuming the shaft 6 and the pinion 5 to be rotating in acounter-clockwise direction, as viewedin Fig. 3 of the drawin it isapparent that the key? engages the left hand wall ofthe slot 8. Uponstarting the engine, the engine gear wheel operates ,rela tiv ely at agreater speed than the pinion5, and, consequently, the key member 7 ismoved from the left-hand side of the slot 8 to the right-hand side ofsuch slot. How- 'ever,'during such movement, the tooth 25 is releasedand the pinion 5 is forced out of mesh with theengine gear wheel bymeans of the spring member '10.. The spring members 20 and 21 maintainthe cam members and the lever members in their initial positions and nomovement or the pinion 5 into mesh with the engine gear wheel 1 canagain be effected until the motor.

is stopped.

. Modifications in the mechanism and in invention, and suchmodifications are intended to be covered by the appended claims.

I claim as myinvention:'

1. Ina starting mechanism,tlie combina' tion with an engine gear wheel,and a motor pinion, of a spring member for. biasing said pinion out ofmesh with said gear wheel,a weight member mounted for rota.- tion withsaid pinion, and a cam member operated by said weight member for forcingthe motor pinion into mesh with the engine gear wheel upon rotationofsaid pinion.

2, Inv a starting mechanism, the combination with an "engine gear when,and a motor pinion, of a cam member, and -i. weightfm'ember rotatablewith said pinion and having sufficient inertia, when rotated, tooperate; said cam member to force the pinion into mesh with the enginegear wheel.

3. In a startingmechanism, thecombinatio with an engine gear wheel, anda starting motorhaving a pinion mounted on the shaft thereof, of two'cammembers pivotally mounted on the motor shaft adjacent to said. pinion,and two weighted lever arms pivotally mounted on said motor shaft andhaving suflicient inertia, upon starting the motor, to operate said cammembers to force the motor pinion IIItO IIIQSh with the eng ne gearwheel.

v 4. In a starting mechanism, the 'com'bin'atio with an engine gearwheel, a starting motor having a pinion axially movable along tharmature shaft, and a loose connection between said pinion and thearmature shaft to, permit a limitedrelative rotative movement betweensaid-members, of means cornprising a'cani member for forcing said pinioninto mesh with the engine gearwheei, and alatchfor maintaining said camin position t'ofhold fsaid pinionfand gear wheel in mesh, said looseconnection permitting the 'dem'eshing of the pinion and the gear wheelupon starting of theengine;

' Y 5. In a'starting mechanism, the combina-. tio withan engine gearwheel, a starting motor "having a pinion movable along the armatureshaft, and means for biasing said pinionout of mesh with the engine gearwheel, of means comprising a cain'member pivotally mounted on thearmature shaft engine gear wheel'upon starting of the motor. 6. In astarting mechanism, the combma tion with an engine'gear wheel, andastartfor moving said pinion into mesh with the gear wheel, and means formoving said pinion ont of mesh with the gear wheel upon starting of theengine. V 3

'7. Ina starting mechanism, the combination with an engine gear wheel,and a startfor forcingthe pinion into mesh with the the armature shaftinto mesh with said gear wheel, of mean comprising a pivotally mountedcam member for moving said pin ion into mesh with the gear wheelupon'operation of the motor and means comprising a spring member formoving said pinion out of mesh with the gear Wheel upon operation of theengine.

8. In a starting mechanism, the combination with an engine gear wheel, amotor having a pinion rotatable with, and axially movable along/thearmature shaft thereof, and a spring member for biasing said pinion outof mesh with the gear Wheel, of

two cam members pivotally mounted on said armature shaft, two Weightedlever arms connected to said cam members, said lever arms havingsufficient lnertia, upon starting of the motor, for operating the cammembers to force the pinion into mesh with the englne gear wheel, alatch on one of said -cam members for holding the pinion in mesh withsaid gear wheel, auxiliary spring members for biasing the cam members toinitial position, and a loose connection between said pinion and thearmature shaft for permitting the release of said latch upon starting ofthe engine.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 30th dayof July, 1920. V

HARRY R. MEYER.

